To mead or not to mead?

Hey guys,

I met a girl a while ago who loves mead. But she told me it's so hard to find mead in stores, and it's way too expensive. So i thought: I'm a brewer, I can solve that problem! Anyhow, i made my first 5L test batch of mead yesterday. But only I was not smart enough to check for recipes before i started, so I am now quite curious if I did well. Hereby I ask you fellow mead brewers to check my recipe and point out if there is something missing or done wrong! It's an apple-cinnamon mead.
My recipe:
1: I boiled 2L of water, steeping 2 bags of earl grey tea and 3 cinnamon sticks.
2: Removed the teabags.
3: Added 900 grams of flower honey.
4: Removed from heat and added 1.5L of pure apple juice, and 1.5L of apple juice with added vitamine C (I've read somewhere this improves the fermentation or something?)
5: Tossed the lot onto the yeastcake of an 11% tripple I kegged earlyer, including the 3 cinamon sticks.
6: Added about 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar and 1 teaspoon of yeast-nutrient.
7: Took a picture 1 day later.

OG: +/- 1.080

Thanks in advance!

That sounds like a pretty good plan, though it may be a little heavy on the cinnamon.

I am not aware that vitamin C provides any benefit in fermentation.

Now do you have melomel, or apfelwine? Its all semantics, I bet that will taste good. Ken Schramm did a mead interview for "The Jamil Show" which is really good and gives all the basics. I also read his book which is worthwhile.

I'll concur with Medsen. Though I'd have thought that you might want to check the tolerance of the yeast, because with a gravity of 1.080, any yeast "worth it's salt" is gonna ferment that dry as hell. So you may want to think of either another 454g/1lb of honey to make it stronger (and possibly aim for some residual sugars) or ready for back sweetening once the brews finished.

The vitamin C a.k.a. ascorbic acid, is actually in the AJ as a preservative. Luckily, it's one that doesn't affect yeast in the same way the likes of sodium benzoate do. Plus it has the added benefit that the AJ producer/seller can say "with added vitamins" so the mug punters buy it all the quicker. It might mean that the AJ has been pasteurised - heating degrades ascorbic acid quite quickly.

regards

fatbloke

Great first on the fly recipe. I agree with all the comments, the cinnamon might be powerful by the end. I would also echo fatblokes comment on extra honey. 1.080 will ferment really dry. You can use this link to determine how much extra honey to add to get the ABV you want http://www.gotmead.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=745&Itemid=16
Although that will only give you a potential, you probably know how much alcohol your yeast can handle. Aim just above if you want it sweet.

I would ask your girl if she likes it sweet or dry. If it's for her, hers is the only opinion that matters in your little experiment.

mgc said:

I would ask your girl if she likes it sweet or dry. If it's for her, hers is the only opinion that matters in your little experiment.

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Mybe I just have a dirty mind but what exactly are we talking about?

Cascadegan said:

Mybe I just have a dirty mind but what exactly are we talking about?

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Hahaha that's what I was thinking. And are just regular meads with just honey good to because I'm about to do a sack sweet with 10lbs of home "grown" honey.

Thanks for the comments! I'll look into the yeast, and maybe I'll try to remove the cinnamon sticks from the carboy soon before it overpowers. And I've just texted her 'Do you like it sweet or dry?' I hope she knows I'm talking about the mead xD